Men's Basketball Hosts Iowa State

GAME INFORMATION
Ranked No. 22 in this week's AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Oklahoma (13-4 overall, 3-3 Big 12) goes for its fourth straight league win when it hosts Iowa State (13-4, 4-2) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST inside Lloyd Noble Center. The game will air on the Sooner Radio Network (flagship KOMA 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) with Bob Barry, Sr. (play-by-play) and Mike Houck (analyst) calling the action. It will be televised regionally by ESPN Plus with Dave Armstrong (play-by-play), Reid Gettys (analyst) and Gary Thompson (analyst) announcing.

IOWA STATE PROJECTED STARTERS
F 4   Jackson Vroman (6-10, 220, Sr., 13.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.4 apg)
C 51 Jared Homan (6-9, 245, Jr., 12.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 0.7 apg)
G 0   Jake Sullivan (6-1, 195, Sr., 14.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G 1   Curtis Stinson (6-2, 205, Fr., 14.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4.4 apg)
G 11 Will Blalock (5-11, 185, Fr., 8.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.5 apg)

OKLAHOMA PROJECTED STARTERS
F 32 Johnnie Gilbert (6-8, 265, Jr., 4.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)
C 21 Jabahri Brown (6-10, 220, Sr., 7.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.6 apg)
G 1   Lawrence McKenzie (6-2, 170, Fr., 7.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G 3   Drew Lavender (5-7, 155, Fr., 11.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G 5   Jason Detrick (6-6, 215, Sr., 10.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.7 apg)

OKLAHOMA UPDATE
Following a four-game losing streak that saw Oklahoma flirt with dropping out of the AP poll for the first time in 44 weeks, the Sooners have bounced back with three straight victories the last two on the road. OU beat Kansas State (61-49) on Jan. 24 in Norman before winning at Baylor (78-67) and Nebraska (52-50) last week. All three wins came after sophomore forward Kevin Bookout announced his election to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. Kelvin Sampson's team has played four of its first six Big 12 games on the road which means six of its remaining 10 conference games are at home (Oklahoma is 9-1 at Lloyd Noble Center this season and has won 46 of its last 48 there).

Freshman guard Lawrence McKenzie has had a hot hand for the Sooners and is coming off an 18-point, 10-rebound effort (both were game highs) against Nebraska in which he was 5-for-8 from three-point range. The 10 boards and five treys set career highs while the 18 points were one shy of a personal best. McKenzie, who averages 7.7 points and 2.4 rebounds per game on the season, is averaging 10.7 points and 5.7 boards during OU's three-game winning streak. He has also made 9-of-17 (.529) three-pointers during the stretch. McKenzie has scored in double digits in three of the last five games and has scored at least 13 points four times this year. Senior guard Jason Detrick has also been key to OU's resurgence with a 14.3 scoring average during the current winning streak. Detrick totaled four points at Nebraska but scored game highs of 24 against Kansas State and 15 at Baylor. He now averages 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Point guard Drew Lavender leads the team with his 11.2 points and 3.9 assists per outing, and with his 26 treys (tied with McKenzie). The Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year has made at least one trey in 16 of 17 games and is averaging 2.0 makes over the last seven games. Lavender has led the team in scoring five times.

Sophomore wing De'Angelo Alexander has come off the bench the last three games after starting the first 14. Alexander, who like Bookout has battled shoulder problems all year, ranks third in scoring and rebounding with his 10.0 and 4.8 season averages. In seven games since a career-high 22-point effort against Princeton on Jan. 3, though, Alexander has failed to score in double digits and has averaged 5.7 points and 4.0 boards. Another guard, junior Jaison Williams has been extremely valuable most of the season. Coming off the bench in each game, Williams is averaging 7.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 steals. He is shooting a team-high .920 from the foul line and ranks third with his 25 three-pointers.

On the inside, the Sooners have stomached the loss of Bookout's 7.6 points and 5.5 boards per outing rather well. Senior center Jabahri Brown has played consistently the last five games and has averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals during the stretch. He averages 7.9 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game on the season. Junior forward Johnnie Gilbert replaced Bookout as a starter the last three games and has averaged 5.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steal in those contests. Gilbert is averaging 4.6 points, 3.5 boards and 1.3 rejections per game. Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner is also seeing more playing time and is averaging 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds over the last four contests.

ABOUT IOWA STATE
Picked 10th in both preseason Big 12 polls, Iowa State has surprised prognosticators with its 13-4 overall and 4-2 Big 12 records. The Cyclones are coming off a 68-61 home win over then-No. 15 Kansas and have also posted home victories over Missouri (70-65), Nebraska (89-74) and Texas A&M (91-82). Their league losses have come at Colorado (88-70) and at Baylor (63-59). Iowa State is 12-0 at home and 1-4 on the road.

Guard Curtis Stinson is a leading candidate for Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors and paces the team with his 14.9 points per game. Stinson also averages 6.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per outing. In league play he is averaging 16.0 points per game. Senior guard Jake Sullivan averages 14.2 points and 2.7 three-pointers per contest, and is shooting .397 from beyond the arc and .936 (44-for-47) from the foul line. Senior forward/center Jackson Vroman is shooting .580 from the field and averages 13.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game (the rebounding averages ranks second in the Big 12). Vroman has four double-doubles on the year. Junior center Jared Homan averages 12.6 points, 7.2 boards and a league-leading 3.6 blocks per game while freshman point guard Will Blalock averages 8.8 points, 4.5 assists and just two turnovers per outing. Against Kansas on Saturday, Blalock registered 11 assists with no turnovers.

ISU is shooting .470 from the field and owns .381 three-point and .663 free throw marks. Opponents have shot .401 from the field and .337 from beyond the arc. The Cyclones outrebound their foes by 3.2 per contest.

Head coach Wayne Morgan is 13-4 (.765) in his first season at Iowa State. He coached at Long Beach State for six years (1996-2002) and compiled a 91-84 (.520) record there. Morgan, who coached former Sooner Renzi Stone's brother, Grant, at Long Beach, owns a 104-88 (.542) career mark.

SERIES WITH IOWA STATE
Oklahoma leads the overall series with Iowa State, 103-75, and holds a 57-21 advantage in Norman. Kelvin Sampson is 7-5 against the Cyclones as OU's head coach and is 4-1 at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners have won the series' last two games and five of the last seven. Last year, Oklahoma handled ISU 70-60 on Jan. 14 in Ames as Hollis Price made a career-high nine three-pointers on 16 attempts and finished with 31 points. Kevin Bookout added 16 points and Jabahri Brown pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Iowa State guards Jake Sullivan, Adam Haluska and Tim Barnes averaged a combined 40.0 points per game entering the day but scored just two in the first half and 29 for the contest. Sullivan and Haluska scored 13 each.

A WIN OVER IOWA STATE WOULD...
Improve OU's Big 12 record to 4-3 after starting 0-3.
Give OU a 47-2 record in its last 49 home games.
Give OU a 43-10 record in its last 53 games against Big 12 teams (including postseason play).

NEBRASKA RECAP
In a tale of two halves at Nebraska on Sunday, Oklahoma's fate looked favorable early and then bleak late. The end result was an exciting 52-50 road victory that gave OU a three-game winning streak and evened its Big 12 record at 3-3. The Sooners sizzled from beyond the arc in the first half by knocking down 7-of-14 three-point attempts and took a 36-21 lead to halftime (they led by as many as 18) as they held the Huskers to .304 field goal shooting. Nebraska, which still trailed 44-30 at the 13:26 mark of the second half, held OU scoreless over a 10:18 span while scoring 15 points to take a 45-44 lead with 3:28 to play. A Lawrence McKenzie free throw stopped the bleeding and a three-pointer by the freshman gave the Sooners a 48-45 cushion with 2:13 left. Later, with OU ahead 50-48, McKenzie drove the lane and fed Jabahri Brown for a 17-foot baseline jumper with 11 seconds left that sealed the game. The Huskers added a basket with one second left to finish the scoring. McKenzie finished with 18 points, one shy of his career high, and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. He was 5-for-8 from three-point range and added two assists. Brown scored 15 points, one short of his career best, and registered five boards, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Jake Muhleisen was the lone Husker in double digits with 11 points. Nebraska fell to 11-6 overall (10-2 at home) and 1-5 in Big 12 play.

NEBRASKA LEFTOVERS
Freshman Lawrence McKenzie made three-pointers on OU's first three possessions of the game. His five treys on the afternoon tied an OU season high set by Jaison Williams against Texas-Pan American and matched by Drew Lavender against Connecticut.
Oklahoma made seven of its eight three-pointers in the first half.
McKenzie and Jabahri Brown combined to make 13 of OU's 20 field goals on the afternoon (65 percent).
The win was Oklahoma's 100th against Nebraska (the Sooners improved to 100-78) and gave OU a five-game winning streak versus the Huskers.

BOMB SQUAD
Oklahoma has shot well from three-point range over the last three games and it's probably no coincidence that the Sooners have posted victories in all three. OU has made eight treys in each of the last three outings and is shooting .387 during the stretch (the team owned a .310 season mark prior to the three-game winning streak). Freshman Lawrence McKenzie is 9-for-17 (.529) over the last three games while junior Jaison Williams is 4-for-8 (.500).

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR
Kelvin Sampson's Oklahoma teams have been known to peak in the latter portion of the regular season in his previous nine campaigns. With its win at Nebraska on Sunday, OU improved to 36-10 (.783) in February and March regular season games since 1998-99.

BALANCED ATTACK
In OU's 78-67 win at Baylor last Wednesday, eight of the nine Sooners who saw action scored. What makes the feat interesting is that all eight scored at least eight points. It marked the first time since the first game of the 1995-96 season (Kelvin Sampson's second year as OU head coach) that eight players scored at least eight points in a contest. On the season, seven Sooners average between 7.2 and 11.2 points per game. Eight players have scored at least 10 points in a game this year and seven have scored at least 15.

COMPARING WINS AND LOSSES
The Sooners' biggest downfalls in their four losses have been shooting, rebounding and turnovers. Below is a statistical comparison between OU's 13 wins and its four January losses.

FG Percentage -- .433 in wins, .358 in losses
Opp. FG Percentage -- .385 in wins, .521 in losses
Rebounding Margin -- +4.6 in wins, -9.5 in losses
Turnovers Per Game -- 13.5 in wins, 17.5 in losses

BIG 12 DOMINANCE
Oklahoma had more than its fair share of success against Big 12 opponents the last couple of seasons by winning 42 of its last 52 games (.808) against conference competition (including postseason play). Aiding that record is a 9-0 Big 12 Tournament mark over the last three years.

HOME IS WHERE THE “W” IS
Lloyd Noble Center has always been extremely kind to the Sooners. Oklahoma, which posted a perfect 16-0 mark at home in 2001-02 and finished 15-1 last season, is 365-61 (.857) inside the building since it opened for the 1975-76 campaign. The Sooners are 128-18 (.877) at home under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson and have won 46 of their last 48. OU had won 37 straight at home before losing to Texas in last year's regular season finale. The 37-game home winning streak was OU's longest since winning 51 in a row in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was the nation's longest streak at the time. It also stands as the longest streak in Big 12 history (Kansas held the previous league record with 33 straight home wins).

OU'S SCHEDULE NO PICNIC
By the time the regular season is over, Oklahoma will have played eight games against teams in this week's AP top 25 (one vs. No. 5 Connecticut, two vs. No. 11 Texas, two vs. No. 13 Oklahoma State, two vs. No. 19 Texas Tech and one vs. No. 20 Kansas). The Sooners also beat preseason AP No. 3 Michigan State and Purdue (No. 21 last week) and lost in overtime to preseason AP No. 5 Missouri.

LOW LEADER
Drew Lavender leads the team with his 11.2 points per game. The last time a Sooner averaged fewer points per game as the team's season scoring leader was in 1960-61 when Warren Fouts averaged 11.1.

LIFT THE LID
The Sooners have struggled making shots this year and own a .415 overall season mark to rank last in the Big 12 (OU's .325 three-point mark ranks 10th). The last OU team to shoot less than .415 for an entire season was the 1963-64 squad (it shot .398). Larry Turner (.528) and Kevin Bookout (.516) are the only Sooners with a field goal percentage at or above .500 this year. The Missouri and Baylor games marked the only times this season OU shot .500 or better.

NOT AFRAID OF REJECTION
Through 17 games, the Sooners have registered 85 blocked shots, an average of 5.0 per contest. The school record for rejections per game is 5.8 (1988-89) and last year's squad averaged just 3.6. Junior Johnnie Gilbert leads Oklahoma and ranks 11th in the Big 12 with his 1.3 blocks per game. Senior center Jabahri Brown has 16 blocks this year while sophomore forward Kevin Bookout recorded 13. Brown ranks sixth on the school's career list with 97 blocks while Gilbert ranks eighth with 86.

LOVING LAVENDER
Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year Drew Lavender has led OU in scoring five times this season with 14-, 13-, 23-, 22-, and 15-point efforts against Purdue, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State, Connecticut and Oklahoma State, respectively. Lavender became the first frosh and the shortest player to ever win Big 12 Player of the Week honors when he reeled in the award Dec. 16. Lavender, who hit the game-winning shot with 1.1 seconds left to give OU a 47-45 victory over Purdue, is leading the team with his 11.2 points, 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He is also tied with Lawrence McKenzie with a team-high 26 treys. The last Oklahoma freshman to average 11.2 points per game for an entire season was Jeff Webster (18.3 ppg in 1990-91). Since Oklahoma assist statistics were first kept during the 1976-77 season, Terry Evans is the only freshman to average more assists for an entire campaign (4.4 in 1989-90).

FRESH FACES
Making their Oklahoma debuts in the season opener against Eastern Washington were freshmen Brandon Foust, Drew Lavender, Lawrence McKenzie and junior Jaison Williams. Through 17 games, the group has accounted for 461 of OU's 1,164 points (40 percent), 119 of its 221 assists (54 percent) and 77 of its 103 three-pointers (75 percent). Redshirt freshman center Larry Turner has also seen action in 16 games and scored a career-high nine points against both Prairie View A&M and Texas Tech. Five of OU's 11 roster players are freshmen (walk-on Kellen Sampson is the fifth) while seven are freshmen or sophomores.

STARTING FRESH(MEN)
Against Eastern Washington on Nov. 21, Drew Lavender and Lawrence McKenzie became the third and fourth freshmen under 10th-year head coach Kelvin Sampson to start the first game of a season. The others were Kevin Bookout last season and guard Prince Fowler in 1994-95, Sampson's first OU campaign. Lavender's 23 points against Jackson State Dec. 20 represent the most by a freshman during the Sampson era while McKenzie's 19 points versus Oral Roberts Nov. 22 stand as the sixth most by an OU frosh under Sampson. In Big 12 games, McKenzie ranks second on the team with his 10.0 points per outing and Lavender ranks third with 9.0 points per contest.

NOT QUITE AS FINE AT THE LINE
Oklahoma shot .739 from the free throw line over its first five games but has dipped significantly since. Over the last 12 contests, the Sooners have posted a .626 mark (134-for-214). OU now owns a .673 season mark to rank seventh in the Big 12. OU has traditionally been an extremely sound free throw shooting team under Kelvin Sampson as seven of his previous nine squads have finished first or second in the Big Eight/Big 12 in percentage. Last year's squad finished third in the Big 12 with a .693 figure.

AP POLL A FAMILIAR PLACE
Oklahoma's streak of 30 straight weeks in the AP poll's top 10 came to an end when the organization ranked the Sooners No. 14 in its preseason poll. But OU reappeared in the top 10 in the season's fifth poll and stayed there for four weeks before dropping to 11 on Jan. 12. The Sooners, No. 22 this week, have now been ranked in the last 45 AP polls and in 78 of the last 82. Kelvin Sampson's teams were ranked No. 3 in the past two seasons' final AP polls.

BREAKING 80
With its 83-56 win over Prairie View A&M Dec. 13, Oklahoma improved to 114-10 (.919) when scoring at least 80 points under 10th-year mentor Kelvin Sampson. OU was 7-0 last season under the circumstance and has won 53 of its last 55 games (.964) when scoring 80 or more.

OU SIGNS A PAIR OF STANDOUTS
Sooners head coach Kelvin Sampson inked two recruits to national letters of intent during the early signing period. Post players Taj Gray and Longar Longar will join Oklahoma for the 2004-05 season.

Gray, a 6-9, 240-pound forward who is regarded as one of the nation's top junior college players, hails from Wichita, Kan., and attends Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla. The preseason first-team All-American led Redlands to a 32-3 record and NJCAA Tournament berth last year when he averaged 15.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game. He also shot 68 percent from the field. Gray was the NJCAA's Region 2 Player of the Year and earned second-team All-America acclaim. A Wichita East High School product, Gray was Kansas' Class 6A Player of the Year as a senior in 2001-02. He led his 24-3 team to the state title and was named the state tournament's MVP.

A Sudan native who moved to the United States as a high schooler, Longar stands 6-11 and weighs 210 pounds. He attended John Marshall High School in Rochester, Minn., and is now at Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute, one of the nation's top-ranked preparatory schools. Longar, who originally signed with Oklahoma in November 2002, was a consensus top-75 recruit as a senior last year and led his 24-4 John Marshall squad to the Elite Eight of the state tournament, the school's best-ever finish. He averaged 18.0 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.7 blocks en route to earning first-team All-State honors.

SOONER MISCELLANY
The Sooners made their ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance last year and 18th in the last 21 years.
Oklahoma is 16-3 over the last three postseasons (9-0 in Big 12 and 7-3 in NCAA Tournaments).
The Sooners have won more NCAA Tournament games the past two years (seven) than they did in their previous 10 appearances combined.
The Sooners have won at least 26 games each of the last four seasons.
The Sooners' scoring defense mark of 60.0 points per game last year marked their lowest in 25 years. Opponents are scoring 60.9 points per game this season.
Oklahoma is 18-9 in overtime games under Sampson and has won 12 of its last 15. OU went 3-0 in overtime affairs last season (beat Texas Tech twice and Kansas State).
Sampson's .728 winning percentage is the best in OU history (Billy Tubbs ranks second at .716).

NINE STRAIGHT...AND COUNTING
Oklahoma has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of Kelvin Sampson's nine years in Norman. Only seven other schools have made the “Big Dance” each of the past nine seasons (Arizona, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and Stanford).

KELVIN'S SCHOOL OF DANCE
Last year's NCAA Tournament appearance marked Kelvin Sampson's 10th straight as a head coach (nine with Oklahoma and one with Washington State). That string ranks fourth among current coaches. Only Arizona's Lute Olson (19 straight), North Carolina's Roy Williams (14) and Cincinnati's Bob Huggins (12) have taken teams to more consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Kentucky's Tubby Smith and Maryland's Gary Williams have also been to 10 straight “Big Dances” while Stanford's Mike Montgomery has been to nine.

OU OWNS NATION'S SECOND-LONGEST POSTSEASON STREAK
Oklahoma has made 22 consecutive postseason appearances (18 NCAA and four NIT), the second-longest streak among Division I programs. Only Indiana owns a longer postseason streak. The last time OU did not compete in the postseason was in 1980-81.

UNDER KELVIN SAMPSON...
OU has a 124-30 record the last four-plus years for the NCAA's third-best winning percentage (.805).
OU has posted an 83-35 (.703) Big 12 Conference record.
OU has made nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
OU has advanced to the Sweet 16 (1999), Final Four (2002) and Elite Eight (2003).
OU has recorded a 128-18 (.876) record at Lloyd Noble Center and has won 46 of its last 48 home games.
OU has won at least 26 games each of the last four seasons and at least 22 games each of the last six years.
OU has won three straight Big 12 Tournaments and has made five title game appearances in the last six events.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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